How to create a streaming TV ad campaign on Vibe
This guide walks through building and launching a first streaming TV campaign in Vibe, from uploading your video to the first two weeks after launch.
A Vibe campaign has two layers. The campaign holds the goal and the performance objective. Strategies sit underneath, and each strategy has its own budget, dates, audience, placement, bidding and creative. Vibe describes strategies as its version of ad sets.
Your spot runs as a commercial in streaming apps and channels on TV screens. Viewers can’t click a TV ad, so website results are measured afterward by the Vibe pixel, which matches site visits to households that saw the ad.
Upload your video and wait for approval
Open Creative Library and click Upload. Vibe’s specs: .mp4, 16:9, 1920×1080 recommended with 1280×720 as the minimum, 5 to 90 seconds, a constant frame rate, and a bitrate of at least 2,500 Kbps. Files over 90 seconds will not upload.
Each upload is scanned for compliance, which Vibe says takes up to 30 minutes. The status shows Pending review, Approved or Rejected.
TipVibe's help articles list different maximum file sizes, 100MB in one and 500MB in another, so exporting under 100MB avoids a failed upload.
Name the campaign and choose a goal
Start a new campaign and give it a name you will recognize in reports. Then choose a goal: Awareness, Traffic, Leads, Sales, App Promotion, Retargeting or ABM.
Goals have prerequisites. Awareness needs no pixel. Traffic needs pixel page views within the last 12 hours. Leads and Sales also need lead or purchase events within the last 7 days and a conversion rate of at least 0.1%, meaning one conversion per 1,000 page views.
Set the metric and target
Choose the metric you want to be judged on from the metric dropdown, such as cost per lead for a Leads campaign, and enter your target value. Vibe shows this as the campaign’s Performance objective.
In the advanced options you can also use Edit window to set the attribution window, which defaults to 30 days. This is the only place the window is saved for the campaign. Changes made on reporting pages are temporary.
Add a strategy with a budget and dates
After the campaign is created, you add strategies. For each one, choose a Daily or Lifetime budget and a start date. Lifetime budgets also need an end date. Each strategy needs a budget of at least $50.
Use separate strategies for anything you want to compare, such as two regions or two audiences. Click Add strategy + in the left panel to add another. The budget guide covers pacing and bidding in detail.
Set location and audience
Location is always a hard filter. You can target or exclude US states, metros, cities, ZIP codes, counties and congressional districts, with bulk upload for long lists.
Age, gender, detailed demographics and in-market or interest audiences default to Suggestions mode, which guides the bidder without blocking anyone. Control mode turns them into hard filters. Custom & Web Audiences, such as customer lists and site visitors, start in Control mode.
Watch outIf Vibe tells you to broaden your targeting to spend your budget, your hard filters are too tight for the money.
Choose where the ad runs
Under Apps & Channels, select all available channels or pick them individually. Vibe recommends broad placement unless you have specific brand-safety requirements. Campaigns deliver to TV screens by default.
Live Sports inventory runs only during live games and needs its own strategy. If you need time-of-day scheduling, delivery time slots are set in the Budget & Schedule section.
Attach the creative
In the strategy, click Add a creative, then upload a new video or choose an approved one from your library. You can preview each video before you continue.
If you add more than one video to a strategy, Vibe rotates them at random. That gives variety, but it is not a controlled test. Put competing spots in separate strategies if you want a clean comparison.
Review and launch
Check each strategy’s budget, targeting and creative on the recap page, and look at the strategy estimate for audience size and deliverability. Then click Launch Campaign.
The campaign shows as Upcoming and can take up to 12 hours to start, then moves to Delivering. New campaigns go through a 14-day learning phase, so avoid judging results or making big changes in the first two weeks.
TipEdit instead of pausing when you need a change, since pausing and resuming starts a new 5-day learning phase.
Before you move on
- Your video shows Approved in the Creative Library
- The pixel prerequisites for your goal are met
- Each strategy has at least $50 and the right dates
- Location targeting matches where you can sell
- The strategy estimate does not warn that the budget can't be spent
Official resources
- Vibe Help Center: Create your campaign
- Vibe Help Center: Campaign goal prerequisites
- Vibe Help Center: Campaign targeting
- Vibe Help Center: Video formatting specs
- Vibe Help Center: Understanding the campaign learning phase
Ad platforms update their tools often. This guide was last reviewed against the official documentation above in October 2026. If your screen looks different, the official help pages have the latest steps.
At a glance
- Level
- Beginner
- Time
- About 45 minutes
- What you need
- A Vibe account where you have the Admin role (Editors can't publish campaigns)
- A finished 16:9 .mp4 video, ideally 15 or 30 seconds
- The Vibe pixel installed if you want any goal other than Awareness
- A clear list of the markets you can sell to
Rather have it done for you?
Active Digital Marketing builds and manages streaming TV campaigns for businesses doing $25,000+ a month in revenue.
Apply to work with usOr get an ad account auditWhere DIY setups go wrong
The most common problems with self-built Streaming TV Ads setups, and what they cost.
Targeting too narrowly
Hard filters on location, age and audiences stack on top of each other. On TV that can leave too little inventory to spend the budget, which is why Vibe recommends starting broad.
Choosing Sales before the pixel is ready
Sales and Leads goals need recent pixel events and a minimum conversion rate. Without them, the campaign can't meet the goal's prerequisites.
Testing spots inside one strategy
Several videos in one strategy rotate at random, so you can't cleanly credit results to one spot. Split anything you want to compare.
Pausing to make changes
Pausing and resuming restarts a 5-day learning phase. Editing the live campaign avoids that.
No URL on screen
Viewers can't click a TV ad. Vibe advises keeping your company URL visible for the whole spot so people know where to go.
What this guide doesn't cover
Launching a Vibe campaign takes an afternoon. Making streaming TV pay back takes longer: choosing the goal that reflects real business value, writing spots that work with the sound on and no click, and reading results knowing that TV also drives search and direct traffic the pixel won’t fully credit.
ADM builds Vibe campaigns as part of a full paid media plan and uses market-level tests to check whether TV is adding sales or taking credit for sales that would have happened anyway.
- Goal and objective choices tied to margin, not platform metrics
- Spot scripting and versioning for TV audiences
- Strategy structure for clean geo and audience tests
- Retargeting and lookalike audiences built from site data
- Holdout markets to measure incremental lift
- Coordinating TV flights with search and social
Common questions
How long can a Vibe TV ad be?
Vibe accepts videos from 5 to 90 seconds. Its help center notes that 15 and 30-second spots are the most common.
How long does ad review take?
Vibe says its automatic content recognition scan typically approves ads within 30 minutes. After launch, a campaign can take up to 12 hours to start delivering.
Can I target by ZIP code?
Yes. Location targeting supports US states, metros, cities, ZIP codes, counties and congressional districts, and location is always a hard filter.
Do I need the pixel for an Awareness campaign?
No. Awareness has no pixel requirement, but without the pixel you won't see site visits or conversions from TV exposure.
From the blog
Strategy and context to go with this guide.
Keep learning
How to Create a Vibe Streaming TV Ad Account
Sign up for Vibe, create your advertiser profile, add a payment method, invite your team and secure the account before your first streaming TV campaign.
Read the guideHow to Set a Streaming TV Ad Budget on Vibe
How Vibe budgets work: daily vs lifetime strategies, the $50 minimum, automatic and manual CPM bidding, frequency caps, pacing and safe budget changes.
Read the guideHow to Install the Vibe Pixel
Install the Vibe pixel on Shopify, Google Tag Manager or your site code, add lead and purchase events, and confirm streaming TV conversions are tracking.
Read the guideHow to Create a Meta Ads Campaign
Build your first Facebook and Instagram campaign in Ads Manager: objective, Advantage+ settings, audience, placements, the ad itself, and launch.
Read the guideHow to Create a Google Ads Campaign
Build your first Google Ads Search campaign: objective, networks, locations, AI Max, keywords, responsive search ads, budget, and publishing.
Read the guideHow to Create a TikTok Ads Campaign
Build your first TikTok campaign: pick an objective, choose manual or Smart+, set targeting and placements, upload your ad, and submit it for review.
Read the guideRather have it built right the first time?
If your business does $25,000+ a month in revenue, apply and Mitch will review your accounts personally. Earlier than that? An ad account audit gives you a senior-level fix list you can work through yourself.